This just in: Females outnumber males on social networking sites. The site Pingdom did a survey, and concluded that 16 out of 19 (84%) of the most popular social sites have more women populating them than men. The super geek sites Digg, Reddit, and Slashdot have more men on them, but the more popular sites including Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter, all have more women visiting them.

The average ratio of all sites surveyed, according to Pingdom, was 47% male, 53% female.Am I surprised? Not really. This strikes me as proof that women really are better communicators; certainly the data indicates that they work more at it. But while a six-point spread is significant, it is not a landslide. More research that corrects for job types and access to the Internet might be needed to see if there's much difference.

Forget the averages for a moment. Bebo had 66% female users, and MySpace and Classmates each had 64%. Slashdot had over 80% male visitors. What does that say? If you are in business or designing messages for social media, you might want to start focusing your messages better. I am sure there are other studies in a similar vein -- and if you know of some, please let us know -- and if there are no other studies, I bet there will be.

Fundamentally, if we are at a point in the explosion of social media where we are beginning to see this kind of demographic specialization, then the trend is long passed its salad days. Early in a new paradigm, there aren't the number of choices or specialization that we are now seeing in social media.

This has huge implications for business. For example, we already knew from more exhaustive research that women account for more than three quarters of domestic spending. If you add that to the Pingdom research, you must conclude that if you think you can market in cyberspace as if you are selling car batteries at halftime, think again and again.

There's so much I would like to know that this data does not illuminate. Think about the skill set that we prize in sales and marketing people. How does that skill set align with the people in the social strata?

Also, since men and women make up equal halves of the population, the data suggests that a considerable number of men are not participating. Does this mean that those who elect to participate share some characteristics with women that the abstainers do not?

Not long ago I was at a conference, and I can't recall if someone said this or if I read it, but the statement was that men went to social sites because women went there.

If that was the case, I would have expected the numbers to be closer. Who knows -- maybe another survey will reverse these findings, but for now it sure is curious.

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Microsoft's six-month old search engine Bing has been performing admirably, says market research firm comScore, and it grew to a 10.3% share of the search market in November.

During the month of November, core US search volume grew by 17.8%, but only Google's and Microsoft's sites increased in share. Yahoo, Ask, and AOL, on the other hand, all declined. So what's driving Bing's growth while its partner Yahoo falters?

Even though it has a strong marketing push behind it, Bing is helped significantly by its placement as the default search engine in the toolbars of new computers. TMT Analyst pointed out earlier this month that Microsoft's distribution deals with OEMs Dell, HP, and Lenovo significantly increase Bing's exposure, constituting around 50% of the consumer PC market.

Many of these toolbar deals formerly belonged to Yahoo, the company's CEO Carol Bartz reportedly said last week.

But toolbar search is only a piece of the puzzle, and really, desktop search isn't all there is. Mobile search is really the place to be moving forward. This is why the Bing iPhone app, released yesterday, is so important to Bing's continued growth.

The Bing iPhone app has already been praised for its elegant interface, voice search integration, turn-by-turn direction capabilities, and location-enhanced results. This is a noteworthy departure from Google mobile for iPhone, which actually required the native Mapping app to be launched separately for location searches and directions.

With apps now on Windows Mobile and iPhone, it's only a matter of time before official Bing apps come to Android, BlackBerry, and webOS for even better mobile search representation.

When Google acquired AdMob in November, Susan Wojcicki, Vice President of Product Management and Vic Gundotra, Vice President of Engineering, said that the mobile Internet is driving an explosion in search. According to Morgan Stanley reports, iPhone and Android have contributed to a 5x expansion of mobile search in just two years. As smartphones become more commonplace among the average consumer, the use of mobile search will only increase.

It's a good place for Bing to set itself up.

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Sync will define connected tech products released or updated in 2010 and the few years that follow. Tech companies that get sync right will set the agenda for the delivery of content and services. Right now, Amazon, Apple and Google are sync leaders. Microsoft is a player but competing in the wrong game.

In a March 2008 blog post, I asserted that "synchronization is the natural killer application for the connected world." I also warned that "should Google get synchronization right before Microsoft, it would be game over. Google would be able to extend the relevancy of the Web platform back to the desktop on its terms -- think invading army -- and across many devices or services." It's game over now, and Microsoft has lent Google a helping hand in self-destruction.

Google gets Sync Right

In last week's post, "10 things Microsoft did wrong in 2010," I faulted the company for licensing ActiveSync to Google -- in February. Immediately, Google used ActiveSync for e-mail, calendar and contact synchronization from its cloud services to iPhone and Windows Mobile handsets. Google also used the technology to provide Exchange Server sync with Google Apps, so that businesses could use the hosted service instead of Outlook.

Sync is quickly defining Google's mobile handset and mobile cloud strategies. In using Android-based handsets, I've found Google push sync to be exceptionally fast and functional -- and extensible. For example, Facebook sync and notifications are a marvel on the T-Mobile MyTouch compared to Apple iPhone. Google is quickly rolling out real-time notifications and sync to all its services and providing in Android and Chrome means for developers to easily tap into these functionalities.

It's not a question of if but when Google will use sync services in conjunction with mobile phone location services to provide better real-time search, such as sale prices at nearby stores or barcode scannable coupons. The pieces already are in place. Last month, my daughter forgot to bring a $20-off coupon to Sephora. But she had it in Gmail on her Android-based Motorola CLIQ. The store simply scanned the barcode from the phone screen. But what if she had been able to subscribe to an Android phone location-based Sephora service that sent a notification and barcode coupon when in proximity to the store? Sync is more than just about moving calendars, contacts and e-mail between mobile devices, clouds services and computers.

Sync is the elixir for ebooks, too. It's the magic behind Amazon's Whispernet and Whispersync services that delivers ebooks to iPhone, Kindle or PC -- and marks where the reading last stopped. Amazon and Google sync services share something fundamentally important in common: Device to cloud; no PC required. Barnes & Nobles' Nook ebook reader is the same, and it runs Google's Android.

Longhorn short on Sync

For Microsoft, the most natural place for sync is the operating system. During Professional Developers Conference 2003, Microsoft product managers touted a new synchronization layer coming with Windows Longhorn. But Microsoft dumped sync with many other features during 2004 and 2005. OS synchronization could have nipped the Google and cloud services problems in the bud. Sync should have been the feature pulling computational and informational relevance back to the PC operating system. Instead, sync will shift computational and informational relevance to mobile devices and cloud-based services.

Sure, Microsoft has several different sync services and strategies, and some of the technologies, like Zune 4.0 and Zune HD, work well. Windows Live SkyDrive and Windows Live Sync are promising sync services, but they're too PC-centric too late. Amazon and Google have got better device sync, and Google is a looming Microsoft competitor.

Then there is Apple, which offered sync as part of Mac OS years ago but perfected the mechanism through iTunes. Apple's media software is a strange sync engine, for all the well it works. What business would want to use iTunes as sync engine for calendars or contacts? But iTunes sync works exceptionally well, such that it recalls where the user stopped watching that movie on Apple TV, iPhone, iPod, Mac or Windows PC and resumes at the right place. Apple's sync consistency and quality are exceptional.

MobileMe takes Apple sync to the device and cloud, where it belongs. Push address book, calendar and e-mail sync works surprisingly well. I've never had a problem with it on any iPhone. Apple's push notification service is a sync workaround that is acceptable, even if deficient. Better: The more real-time sync available with widgets residing on some handsets' homescreens. My daughter has this with her CLIQ, as I have with some Nokia touchscreen handsets, such as the N97.

What If

Sync is the glue binding together cloud services and mobile devices -- and it will reach mature delivery in 2010. Amazon gets it. Apple gets it. Barnes & Noble gets it. Google gets it. Microsoft is getting it, but not fast enough. Amazon had a terrific holiday selling Kindle ebook readers, which could only be spoiled by the rumored Apple tablet. Sync will enable delivery of newspaper and magazine subscriptions in 2010, more real-time than what Amazon does today with Kindle.

* If Google turns search and location-based GPS into a sync service...
* If Apple offers TV subscriptions via iTunes for portable devices and Apple TV...
* If Amazon can support more devices -- and include more content such as music and videos...
* If Apple releases a versatile tablet with combined audio book, ebook, enews, music, podcast and video store...
* If Android becomes the most widely deployed mobile operating system (by number of supporting hardware manufacturers)...
* If Digital Newsstand partners Conde Nast, Hearst Corp., Meredith Corp., News Corp. and Time produce an ebook reader or cut content deals for other devices...

...Sync will be 2010's defining technology, even if not heralded by tech pundits.

Where is Microsoft's sync strategy? In too many ways, it's stalled. Microsoft sync is scattered across consumer products, although it's more vertically defined in the enterprise. But even enterprise advantages can't make up for what's missing: A cohesive mobile operating system, sync service and device strategy. Microsoft has mobile pieces in place, but it's a puzzle apart. Other companies are innovating in sync -- and delivering real and useful products now -- whereas Microsoft makes promises of something better to come.

The company to watch most closely is Google, which during the 2008-09 recession made strategic research investments and released new products or services that are defining. Apple is a sync leader, too. Microsoft helped Google -- and also Apple -- along by licensing ActiveSync. How strange is that?

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Are you annoyed by iTunes DRM? Do you want to remove it because you want to play the iTunes music on non-Apple MP3 players like PSP, Zune, Creative Zen, BlackBerry, PS3, iriver, Walkman, mobile phone MP3 player, etc, use it as background music in a home video, or anything else that DRM limits it to do? You got the right place!

The following article is going to show you how to convert DRM protected iTunes M4P to MP3, AAC to MP3, M4A to MP3 with http://www.tuneclone.com/ (TuneClone Audio Converter) and http://www.apple.com/itunes/download/ (iTunes 9.0.2) so that you can play iTunes music on any MP3/MP4 player or mobile phone music player.

Step 1. Download TuneClone Audio Converter and install it

http://www.tuneclone.com/ (TuneClone Audio Converter) is compatible with Windows XP, Windows Vista (except Vista 64 bit) and Intel based Mac OS X 10.5 -10.6.

Step 2. Make settings in TuneClone Audio Converter

Click the "Settings" button in TuneClone. In the pop-up dialog, you can specify the "output folder", "output filenames", "output format", etc for the output files.

Note: A Virtual CD Drive will be installed to convert iTunes music files. You must make sure this CD burner is successfully installed. you can check whether it is successfully installed and where it is installed at the bottom left corner of TuneClone interface.

Step 3. Create a playlist in iTunes 9

Create a new playlist, and add the iTunes songs you want to convert to the playlist.

Step 4. Make burning settings in iTunes 9

Right click the playlist you just created and choose "Burn Playlist to Disc".

Or you can select part of songs from the playlist and click the "Burn Disc" at the bottom right corner of iTunes interface.

In the pop-up dialog of "Burn Settings", make the settings as highlighted below:

Note: You need to tick the "Include CD Text" option to perserve the music metadata such as name, artist, album names.

Step 5. Start to burn

Click the "Burn" button to start burning.

After the burning gets started, TuneClone Audio Converter will automatically convert the iTunes music to MP3 files.

You can open the manager screen to show all the converted music files.

Tip: The most important step is to choose the CD burner. Then TuneClone Audio Converter will convert the music files automatically. It is exceedingly easy when you want to batch convert lots of files. Source

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Celebrities and everyday people are discovering social networking has its pros and cons, says entertainment reporter JESSICA LEO.

SOCIAL networking has joined sex, drugs and alcohol as the latest addiction plaguing celebrities. With Australians spending a third of their time online perusing Facebook, however, it seems the everyday Aussie is not far behind in mirroring the trend.

British pop singer Lily Allen has become the latest celebrity casualty of the affliction, announcing she is quitting social networking sites and declaring she will be a "neo-Luddite".

Allen joins US pop sensation Miley Cyrus and Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor, who deleted their Twitter accounts, claiming the site had caused too much disruption to their lives.

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TIPS FOR SOCIAL NETWORK ADDICTS

- Limit logging on to only once a day.
- When logged in, limit the time spent to 15 minutes or less.
- Set a timer to monitor time spent on sites.
- Reward yourself (for example, with a coffee) when you stick to the allocated time limit.
- Punish yourself if you stray outside the limits - perhaps donate to a charity you wouldn't normally assist or forgo your morning coffee.
- Make time to schedule face-to-face contact with friends.
- Don't update every minute of your life - think about whose life would be enriched by knowing your every move.

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Allen, 24, says she is signing off from Facebook, Twitter and blogging to settle into a normal life with her boyfriend, building contractor Sam Cooper.

"It's not about being famous; it's not about all the parties; it's not about wanting to be the biggest pop star on the planet. It's about being happy," Allen said of her decision.

"For me, that is Sam, spending time at home, sorting out bed linen - being normal."

Allen's final Twitter post said it all, with the singer writing: "I am a neo-luddite. Goodbye."

Despite her music gaining exposure via social networking site MySpace, Allen said she recognised she had a problem. "I just had this revelation that Facebook, blogging, all those things were becoming a total addiction," she said.

"I'd be with my boyfriend or my mum and they'd have got just half of me. So I put my Blackberry, my laptop, my iPod in a box and that's the end.

"We've ended up in this world of unreal communication and I don't want that. I want real life back."

The singer's words are sure to resonate with many, particularly here in Australia. It was revealed last month we lead the world for the time spent on social media sites each month, with our average of 7.12 hours exceeding the national averages of Britain, Italy, North America and Japan.

Furthermore, figures collated for October show Australians spent an average of 27.2 hours browsing online, 7.55 hours of which was taken up by Facebook, while MySpace and Twitter accounted for 39 and 17 minutes respectively.

That is not to say, however, the problem is exclusively ours. A Nielsen audit of Americans' use of online time revealed that in 12 months, Facebook use had grown by 700 per cent and Twitter's numbers had grown exponentially.

The issue this year attracted the attention of former South Australian thinker in residence and neuroscientist Baroness Susan Greenfield, who claimed repeated exposure to sites such as Facebook, Bebo and Twitter, with computer games and fast-paced TV shows, could effectively "rewire" the brain.

"Attention spans are shorter, personal communication skills are reduced and there's a marked reduction in the ability to think abstractly," Lady Greenfield said.

Adelaide psychologist Dr Darryl Cross, of Crossways Consulting, said social networking was a double-edged sword - while it could serve a purpose of connecting people who were separated by distance, addiction was a serious and very real concern.

"I think people are naturally curious and that's why people entertain gossip, innuendo and rumour," Dr Cross said.

"They love that intrigue. You have a medium like Facebook that feeds into that intrigue.

"Unfortunately, some people do get addicted to it as it feeds their desire about what other people are doing."

Dr Cross said that with technology, such as iPhones and Blackberries, increasing our ease of access to social networking sites, the problem might intensify.

Social networking also can serve a valuable purpose. This year has seen fans and celebrities embrace the power of sites, such as Facebook, to effect social change.

Fans of band Rage Against the Machine launched a Facebook campaign to snare top spot in British charts and deny X-Factor winner the honour, customary each Christmas.

Closer to home, passionate Adelaideans launched Facebook groups to resurrect Hey Hey It's Saturday and the Adelaide Skyshow, generating a groundswell of support.

Dr Cross said it was a matter of adopting the everything-in-moderation adage, suggesting addicts limit time spent and frequency of visits rather than trying to go cold turkey.

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Google India has released its annual Google Zeitgeist report according to which Rahul Gandhi is the most popular politician and Love Aaj Kal the most popular movie in the country. Sania Mirza, the most popular Indian sports star, holds the top position for three years in a row, while Katrina Kaif continues to rule the hearts of Indians online for two consecutive years.

“The Google India Zeitgeist provides a reflection of what was on people's minds in 2009. Besides serving as a great indicator of what made news through the year, Zeitgeist 2009 also provides a unique perspective on what clicked with people and the way they consumed information on the internet,” Vinay Goel, head of products, Google India, has said.

A look at Google Zeitgeist 2009 shows that global economic downturn and local implications were clearly on India's mind as Budget 2009 and Satyam share price emerged as the fastest rising queries. Connecting with friends continued to be top priority for Indians as social networking sites attracted significant interest on the mobile as well as the web.

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Gurgaon-based Amoeba Webware has launched MeriCar.com, an online car servicing booking site that aims to connect car owners with car workshops in their neighbourhood. MeriCar.com is currently associated with Maruti Authorized Service Station and Bosch Car Service workshops in Delhi/NCR and plans to expand its reach to all over India.

According to the company, MeriCar.com is offering two different directories with a list of Maruti Authorized Service Stations and Bosch Car Service Centres to book car servicing online. Maruti has about 2628 authorized service stations to provide car maintenance support to customers in over 1200 towns across India. Bosch has about 260 multi-brand Bosch car service centres in India.

“MeriCar directory meets the requirement for all makes. The team is promoting multi brand concept in India to bring Bosch Car Service centres on the portal. We also have updated MASS (Maruti Authorized Service Station) directory for Maruti car owners who still prefer Maruti Authorized Service Station,” Rakesh K Sidana, CEO, MeriCar.com, has said.

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Kolkata-based Excess Infomedia, the company which publishes gadget magazine Exhibit, has launched Excess.in as an online B2B platform which provides excess stock solutions for traders and distributors of consumer electronics and IT. According to the company, Excess.in has already attracted around 100 registered users and 200 product listings since its launch on December 11, 2009.

“While working for Exhibit magazine, we deal with many dealers and distributors who have a constant problem of outdated and surplus stock. This resulted in the idea of having an online B2B platform that would help in the smooth transfer of surplus stocks,” Ramesh Somani, director, Excess Infomedia, has told AlooTechie. According to Somani, the company has tied up with around 50 retailers and dealers in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Bangalore for posting their stocks on the website.

Excess.in earns its revenues from paid membership plans which range between Rs 2,000 and Rs 75,000. Paid members can display their products and can put up their requirements on the site. Besides, they can also get leads and see contact details of the dealers. Whereas, free members can just view and send queries about any product.

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According to a document titled Yahoo 'Compliance Guide for Law Enforcement', the company typically ‘shares’ its user information, including their personal details and contents of their chats and emails, for a price which ranges between $10 (Rs 500) and $80 (Rs 4000) per query to the law enforcement bodies of various state governments.


“Most of the internet companies share user information with law agencies. But in the case of Yahoo I find it particularly interesting wherein the company has put up a price list for the service. I would say it appears like a spying rate card,” Mahesh Murthy, founder, Pinstorm, has said, adding, “It is difficult to say what kind of revenue this business might generate.” [Source: India Today]

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According to a survey by Assocham (The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India), an average corporate employee in India spends an hour every day on social networking sites such as Orkut, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and MySpace for personal use during the office hours, leading to a loss of about 12.5 per cent of employees’ productivity in the country’s corporate sector.

An interesting finding of the survey states that 73 per cent of corporate employees aged 45-58 spend over an hour online daily to use online sources to access news. The survey further reveals that 84 per cent of internet users in metropolitan cities show signs of internet addiction -- they don’t take breaks and can get irritable if they are interrupted while surfing.

It was also found that 19 per cent of companies allow use of social networking sites only for business purposes, while 16 per cent allow their limited personal use. Only 40 per cent of the employees interviewed said their companies allow employees full access to social networking sites during work hours.

According to Assocham, the findings are based on a survey of about 4,000 corporate employees in the age group 21-60 years in Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai, Cochin, Indore, Ahmedabad, Surat, Mumbai, Pune, Chandigarh, Dehradun, Lucknow and Kanpur. The survey was conducted by Assocham Social Development Foundation (ASDF) during September-November 2009.

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Google has acquired Teracent, an online display advertising company that has developed technology to automatically serve computer-configured display ads in real-time from a library of different creative elements. Google plans to make this technology available to advertisers using its Content Network and the DoubleClick programme.

“Teracent's technology can pick and choose from literally thousands of creative elements of a display ad in real-time -- tweaking images, products, messages or colours. These elements can be optimized depending on factors like geographic location, language, the content of the website, the time of day or the past performance of different ads,” Google has said.

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Yahoo has decided to close its offices from Christmas through New Year's to help save money. The cost-cutting move ends a year in which Yahoo's revenue declined for the first time since 2001. The company has eliminated about 2,000 jobs and shed other expenses since September 2008.

It's the first time that Yahoo has required most of its 13,200 employees to use vacation time or unpaid leave during the holidays. Only employees performing essential duties will be working from December 25 through January 1, according to the company. [Source: Economic Times]

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